A cam shaft is a critical component of any internal combustion engine and it must be in proper operating condition in order for the internal combustion engine to function properly. This is especially so in the instance of a high rpm supercharged engine where great expense and must study and effort is spent on the cam design. In the modern high performance engine, great care is taken with the finish imparted into the surface of the cam lobes and cam bearings of the cam shaft.
After the cam shaft bearings in the engine block have been carefully measured and fitted, and after the cam shaft surfaces have been precisely machined and polished, it is desirable that the cam shaft be precisely mounted within its bearings without damaging either the bearings or the cam surface. It is also desirable that the cam shaft be maintained surgically clean during the assembly. This usually cannot be accomplished by the direct use of one's hands for manipulating the cam shaft because invariably, towards the end of the installation, one of the cam shaft lobes will contact and mar the finish of one of the cam shaft bearings, or vice versa. Moreover, during the assembly one invariably will contaminate his hands and transfer the debris from the hands onto the cam shaft surface.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have made available a cam shaft manipulating tool for holding, supporting, removing, and installing a cam shaft in an engine block in a manner which precludes the occurrence of the above undesirable drawbacks and which safely and hygenically enables installation of the cam shaft within the cam shaft bearings in a new and unexpected manner. A tool which achieves these desirable attributes is the subject of the present invention.